Detritus
by Windblown.child
Summary: Rose contemplates her traveling companion. Short one-shot.


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How is a raven like a writing desk?

The nonsense riddle had always struck Rose as overly odd but as she sat on one of the TARDIS' railings kicking her feet while she watched the Doctor fiddling with a panel, the silly saying chased itself around her head. The human couldn't picture the time traveling alien ever using a writing desk after inquiring about the numerous circular doodles laying around the TARDIS and learning they were notes in his natural language. A raven however was quite like her guide. The Doctor was old, and Rose remembered reading somewhere that ravens lived quite a long time, not to mention they were very clever. The whimsical thoughts were interrupted when the TARDIS panel released a shower of sparks right into the Doctor's upturned face. Perhaps not so wise after all.

The Doctor casually slipped his hand into Rose's as he lead the way out of the TARDIS and into a lush garden. It was a nice change from always being chased by angry locals and Rose let her mind wander. She didn't see the harm in letting the Gallifreyan lead the way until the cool hand entwined with hers suddenly yanked to the right. The blond human barely managed to catch her balance before she was pulled off the path down an embankment and nearly into a gentle babbling brook. No sooner had Rose recommended he slow down a little, the Doctor stopped dead in his tracks. Grinning happily, he dipped his hand in the water and drew out a brilliantly polished stone. After a moment of admiring his prize the Doctor tucked it into his pocket and lead them back to the path.

It wasn't every time they left the TARDIS that the alien found a new trinket, but Rose began to notice more and more things were finding their way back aboard the time ship. She thought the habit was mostly harmless until they were running flat out in an attempt to escape a herd of giant marmot-like creatures flooding through a city and the Doctor skidded to a stop. The human didn't have any breath to spare to ask why he suddenly thought that moment was the perfect time to dig through a rubbish tip. Fortunately, the Doctor grabbed his prize and returned to running. When they reached the safety of the TARDIS and leaned against the locked door to catch their breath, Rose glared at the much older alien.

"Well that was fun" And he held up the broken earing he had found.

The blond just huffed and stalked angrily into the depths of the ship. She wanted a shower after all that running but the sentient ship had different ideas. Rather than move her room closer as usual, the ship placed an unfamiliar door in the human's path no matter which corridor she took until Rose took the hint and entered the room. Of all things the blond had expected to find, a large store room was not one of them. Immediately Rose recognized the trinkets he had picked up through their travels. Rocks and feathers lay together with jewels and bits of scraps. The entire room was filled with the shiny detritus of the innumerable worlds the Doctor had visited over the centuries. Drawn by the numerous colors and shimmering prisms Rose wandered further into the cluttered room idly tracing her fingers over trays and boxes. How many worlds had he visited?

This was the first indicator she had seen that corroborated his claimed age. It would have taken centuries to accumulate so much stuff. When the human reached the end of the store room her eyes fell on a closed box on a shelf. This was odd because everything else had been set on open shelves or clustered on trays. Only this box was shut as if it held something precious. Rose reached for the latch but hesitated. Perhaps the Doctor would not want her going through his things. She quickly decided that she was in the clear as the TARDIS lead her there and it's not like anything was locked. Trying not to imagine what the Doctor thought was important among the trinkets rose flipped open the box.

Inside was an eclectic collection of jewelry. She knew the doctor didn't wear jewelry, which meant he had picked the pieces up like the rest. But when Rose looked closer, she realized that none of the pieces were broken. The young woman gasped when she recognized a silver band on top of the pile of jewelry. The outside was carved with a repeating pattern of spirals and dots and Rose recognized it was the ring that had gone missing from her room the last time they stopped in to see her mother. She stared at the silver band surrounded by what could only be things that had belonged to other companions but Rose knew that they were long lost.

After meeting Sarah Jane and learning just how dangerous it was to travel with the Doctor, Rose refused to think that someday she too would have to give up her place on the TARDIS. She promised the Time Lord forever and she would always keep her word. impatiently wiping away a stray tear the young woman closed the box leaving the ring where it was. She left the storage room and promised herself that she wouldn't think about the evidence that the Gallifreyan wanted a reminder should her forever come too soon.


End file.
